Clients with specific deficits in communication, memory, processing of information, or attention, may have difficulties with the counselling process. This study was been designed to explore the experiences of individuals with these specific deficits in counselling, and thereby increase awareness of the existence and effect of possible barriers or supports in the counselling process. The methodology used was Interpretive Description, developed by Sally Thorne (Sally Thorne, Kirkham, & O'Flynn-Magee, 2004). Ten individuals with particular learning disabilities (one or more of the above deficits) who have experienced counselling were interviewed. Up to four interviews were conducted with each participant; one screening interview, an initial interview, an optional interview including a significant other, and a member check at the end of the study. The researcher recorded a field and research journal during data collection. For the initial and optional interviews the researcher gathered transcripts, and then immersed himself in the data, in order to find themes about the participants’ experiences of counselling. The participants confirmed themes for accuracy and completeness. Finally, four participants contributed a short paragraph at the end of the thesis, nine participants contributed drawings that represented their counselling experience, and five participants created poses representing their relationship with their therapist. These alternate forms of data were used as further evidence in the study. The data gathered demonstrated that participants believed that they needed a more flexible approach to therapy which depended on having a safe relationship with a therapist that was sensitive to their needs. Although certain kinds of counselling processes were preferred by certain participants, the participants’ particular cognitive deficits were not the determining factors of what kinds of help the participants wanted in therapy. Rather, the participants were more interested in the creation of a counselling process based on a collaborative approach between them and their therapist, dependant on the participant’s knowledge about his or her needs and the therapist’s experience in counselling and with learning disabilities. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

This thesis describes an interpretative, qualitative study of one person centred planning, circle of support. The eight people in the circle support a person with a learning disability, to help plan the life the person would like, utilising person centred planning techniques and tools. This study uses an ontological foundation of phenomenology, existentialism, and social psychology to examine the authenticity of the process of person centred planning for the circle of support members, and the person they have all chosen to support (focused person). A variety of data collection methods are employed, particularly those utilising ethnographic characteristics, and participatory approaches. These include video of a circle of support meeting, informal interviews using a video elicitation technique with circle members, and the use of photographs of the person’s plan. The data analysis is interpretative, and uses a two stage thematic analysis. Findings focus on the key concepts of individual agency, social inclusion, rights, choice and social emancipation. In addition the study attempts to examine the individual’s “truth” of current service experiences, and of person centred planning as a method of life planning, for people with learning disabilities. This study adds to understandings of learning disability, and disability generally, by providing new insights into how people should be supported in the future. It emphasises recognising the importance of individual experience both as participants in circles of support, but also as people involved in, or using learning disability services in the United Kingdom. This includes appreciating that human experience is shaped not only by what can be observed and measured, but that individual agency, imagination, feelings and thought are just as important in how individuals view and experience their world.

This study evaluated the comprehension of inference statements by language-learning disabled (LLD) children and children with normal language development (NL) under two conditions: uncontextualized and contextualized. The contextualized condition was designed to encourage retrieval of information from the subject's general knowledge — a procedure proposed to encourage elaborative inference-making. Two text passages were analyzed according to a model developed by Trabasso and presented by Trabasso, van den Broek & Suh (1989), which yielded a set of bridging causal connections across clause units. Sets of three true and three false causal inference statements were developed to represent bridging inferences for each story. In addition, three true and three premise statements were obtained directly from each story, yielding a total of twelve statements for each text. Subjects were ten language-learning disabled students (7 boys, 3 girls) and ten children with normal language development (5 boys, 5 girls) aged 9 to 11 years old. Mean age for children in both groups was 10 years, 4 months. Children were selected for the LLD group on the basis of the following criteria: (1) enrollment in a learning assistance or learning resource program for learning-disabled students, preferably for remediation of Language Arts; (2) history of speech-language intervention in preschool or early primary grades; (3) normal nonverbal cognitive skills; (4) lexical and syntactic comprehension within normal abilities (as determined by standardized language tests for the LLD group); (5) native English speaker and (6) normal hearing ability. Every subject received both stories and conditions. Story presentation and condition were counterbalanced across 8 of the 10 subjects in each group; condition only was counterbalanced across the remaining two subjects in each group. Inference and premise statements were randomized; each random set was randomly presented to each subject. Items were scored correct or incorrect. Subjects were also asked to answer open-ended wh-questions. Responses were compared and analyzed using a nonparametric statistical method appropriate for small sample sizes. Results indicated significant differences between the LLD and the NL groups on the number of correct responses to inference and premise items. Both groups scored significantly worse on inference than premise items. Analysis did not indicate that the LLD group scored significantly worse on inference items than the NL group did. Results also suggested that a contextualization effect operated for both groups, which affected the retention of premise items but acted to improve scores on inference items. This effect was seen most notably for the LLD group. / Medicine, Faculty of / Audiology and Speech Sciences, School of / Graduate

This qualitative study was designed to explore the transition experiences of youth with learning disabilities (LD) educated in the province of Ontario and their families. The primary purpose of this research was to understand what influences the decisions adolescents who have LD make about post-secondary education and employment goals and paths. The expectations and experiences of youth with LD and their families during the transition process were investigated. Adolescents and their parents were the main informants. Facilitators and barriers to the process in terms of each of the systems described in Bronfenbrenner ecological theory and Turnbull and Turnbull’s family systems theory were also examined. A case study method was used in the design of this research and data were collected following Seidman’s three-interview process. Five families consisting of the youth with LD, at least one parent, and in four cases, a sibling participated in this study. The questions focused on family interactions, roles, and the decision-making process. Data from the 18 participants were coded and arranged according to the research questions which were linked to the central ideas in the theoretical framework. The findings revealed that parents’ expectations influenced the decision-making about post high school goals and paths by the youth and their families. In contrast to previous research, it was found that parents’ expectations were generally high for their children with LD and were shaped by their own post high school experiences. The dynamics of family relationships and roles during transition planning depended on the time of diagnosis of LD (primary grades vs. senior high school), attitudes towards LD by the parents, advocacy by parents, self-advocacy abilities of the youth with LD, and the nature of relations among siblings. Additionally, none of the youth with LD had a formal transition plan and the data showed that teachers could facilitate or hinder the transition process. Also emerging from the data were three types of advocacy that were practised by parents. The study findings add to our knowledge about the transition process and in particular how decisions are made and the factors that influence them. Moreover, this study gives a voice to youth with LD and their families as they described their transition experiences to post-secondary education or employment.

M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / This study was conducted to ascertain whether the mothers of children with psychoneurological learning disabilities were more depressed, helpless due to a particular attributional style, and had a lower self-concept, than the mothers of children with anxiety disorders. The Beck Depression Inventory, (Beck, Ward, Mendelson & Erbaugh, 1961), the Attributional Style Questionnaire (Abramson, Seligman &Teasdale, 1978), and the Tennessee Self Concept Scale (Fitts, 1965) were completed by the mothers of 20 boys with psychoneurological learning .disabilities and the mothers of 20 boys with anxiety disorders, aged 6-12 years. Significant results were obtained contrary to expectations, in that the mothers of children with anxiety disorders, were in fact more depressed, helpless and had a lower self-concept than the mothers of children with psycho- neurological disabilities. The conclusion was drawn that the nature of the psychopathology did not depend as much on one factor such as a specific learning disability or an anxiety disorder, but was rather a manifestation of the functioning of the family system. Further research seems indicated to investigate the strengths and vulnerabilities in the family system as a whole, in terms of the reciprocal influence of the learning disabled child and his family...

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A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Educational Psychology) in the Department of Psychology at the University of ZuIu/and, 2004. / Social skills are a well-researched topic, and skills programmes have been used extensively to improve the social and emotional problems encountered by learners with learning disabilities. They are often the therapies of choice for learners who suffer from poor self-concept and poor social skills. Meta-analyses of recent social skills outcome studies have indicated that the amount of change effected by social skills programmes was minimal, and that rarely does it reach the level of effecting clinically significant change. In the light of these contradictory statements, the aim of this study is to establish whether the current social skills programme succeeds in improving the self-concept of learners with learning disabilities at a school for learners with special educational needs. The results of the study indicated that this social skills programme does not improve the global self-concept of learners.

No description available.

The impacts resulting from the integration of students with moderate-to-severe disabilities into a contemporary technology education program are described in this study. The research centered around questions that addressed impacts on students with disabilities, on regular students, on teachers, and on parents of students with disabilities. The study took place in a ninth-grade technology education class and involved two students with moderate-to-severe disabilities. One subject was a 15-year-old male student who was autistic, had a speech handicap, and was mildly retarded. The other student was a 17-year-old male who was emotionally disturbed and learning disabled. Data were collected through classroom observations, videotaped sessions, and interviews with teachers and parents. Notes taken during observations and from videotaped sessions were transcribed, coded, and analyzed. Interviews were also transcribed. The transcripts were reviewed, and significant data were transferred to interview synopsis sheets for incorporation with the other findings. No major problems were found with the integration of the students with disabilities into the technology education program. The students with disabilities caused no discipline problems and were readily accepted by the regular students. However, because the students with disabilities were not actively involved in many of the activities of the class, much of their time was spent off task. The findings reveal that the technology education teacher, who was provided only minimal orientation prior to the placement of the students with disabilities in his class, used regular students as well as individual attention to direct the students with disabilities. A strong need for in-depth, ongoing communication was indicated between special education staff members and mainstream teachers. The importance of providing an orientation for regular students before students with disabilities are placed in mainstream classes was also evident from this study.